Did you feel Sorry for Seifer? (Spoilers may rise)

[MJN SEIFER]

I did. Ok he was a villain but I feel sorry for villains in real life - I may hate them but I realize that no one is born evil so they must have been turned some how.

That's what I like about Square they make beleive able vilains they have good sides and It shows that they wern't always evil (Most of the time Exdeath was the excetion)

I think Seifer was in a sense fooled into his evil ways he wanted his dream to be real and in the end it just got too real for his own good.

Another thing I'd like to point out is that I don't think he realzied at first that he WAS the Bad guy look at some of his lines - he generally believes he's doing the right thing (At first).

[OmegaAuron]

In the case of most bad guys in video games, or anything, for that matter, They think they are doing the right thing. Seifer was really no different in the end. The difference that was there was the fact that he was so ambitious, that even after he realized he was doing the wrong thing, he kept doing it to boost his ego.

[rubah]

Not really.

I think fuijin would've done well to kick him into the water instead

or both of them. heh.

[mitchellmeek]

i don't really feel sorry for him, because he made the choices for a long time... but he wasn't evil either. he was acting under orders, if thats the way to put it.

[Swordicanus]

sure hes happy at the end see that when he smiles up at balamb garden flies by this shows that he is at peace and is no longer angry

[Faris]

Nope, he had a pleasent ending if I do say so myself ^_^

[seiyuimore]

I am not feeling sorry for him, in fact, I like seifer when he was in the ending scenes.

The whole Seifer that we see till disc 3 is the "Childish" seifer. Remember when Edea said that part of him wanted to stop and part of him want to continue? Even Edea said "Bit farewell to your childhood", I believe it meant that she pulled out his childish ambition and dreams. Like when we small, we play Cowboy and Indian and we thought that killing Indians is a good things though it was wrong. So instead of being mature, Seifer was pursuing his childish ambition to be sorcerer knight and killing all innocent people.

In the end of the game however, we see the mature Seifer. Seifer who realised that he has done wrong and still being forgiven by his friends in the garden. That is why he smiled when the garden passed.

[MJN SEIFER]

I am not feeling sorry for him, in fact, I like seifer when he was in the ending scenes.

The whole Seifer that we see till disc 3 is the "Childish" seifer. Remember when Edea said that part of him wanted to stop and part of him want to continue? Even Edea said "Bit farewell to your childhood", I believe it meant that she pulled out his childish ambition and dreams. Like when we small, we play Cowboy and Indian and we thought that killing Indians is a good things though it was wrong. So instead of being mature, Seifer was pursuing his childish ambition to be sorcerer knight and killing all innocent people.

In the end of the game however, we see the mature Seifer. Seifer who realised that he has done wrong and still being forgiven by his friends in the garden. That is why he smiled when the garden passed.

That's a ver good way of putting it! Welldone.

[Zante]

There's no reason to be sorry for him in my opinion, I liked his ending, I think he should be glad that he wasn't punnished for what he did.

[Squall of SeeD]

I feel pity for Seifer, but only in so far as what he felt and how far it drove him. Pity that he couldn't see what he had until he had lost nearly all of it. This is my interpretation of Seifer:

As an orphan, Seifer reacted differently to his status than did most of the other children for unknown reasons. Was it because he was slightly older and bettered remembered the parent(s) he had lost, perhaps having also been an only child of some couple or some single-parent, meaning he had been the focus of attention, something that would no longer be the case in an orphanage full of children? We can't say sadly, but what is assured is that even from his early childhood, Seifer was seeking some way of validating his existance:

Quistis: Yes! That's right! Seifer was a kid who always needed to be the center of attention. But Squall always used to ignore him... But eventually they would end up fighting.

Later in life, Seifer would find that things were no different in Garden, though he would no longer remember his past. As a young man, striving for position as a SeeD, Seifer still did not have the respect he felt he needed to believe that he was -- or was part of -- something special. He headed up Balamb Garden's Disciplinary Committee, going about being a general scourge of other students, seeking that attention and validation of worth that was so lacking in his life.

While Seifer is shown to have despised Squall -- for representing what he, himself, could not be and having what he could not have -- he is also shown to have respected him. When Squall, Selphie, Nida, and Zell graduate, Seifer claps for them, respecting what they have accomplished, something he had failed to achieve.

Despite this, Seifer's feelings of inadequacy grew. When Squall, Zell, and Selphie are dispatched to Timber, Seifer follows, determined to kill Vinzer Deling and prove his worth, to Garden certainly, and possibly to Rinoa and her Forest Owls, who had battled Deling for years, but to no avail.

By the time Seifer got to that point, with his Gunblade held on the Galbadian President, he had gone too far. He had injured several at Garden during his escape, and now had his Gunblade held against Deling. He was scared. He didn't know what to do at that point. To give Deling up would mean that he had not proved his worth, and to face great disciplinary action. To kill him seemingly would not prove his worth, either, as Quistis was berating his actions. In either case, he would not validate his worth to Garden, or to anyone else, and would be forced to face discipline for what he had done, which he no doubt believed would earn him their respect.

He had to choose one of the two options: Release the Galbadian President and face the consequences of his actions, having failed to achieve anything, or kill him and face the consequences of actions that seemingly would also avail him nothing. That is, until Ultimecia gave him another choice. She could doubtless see that he sought to prove to himself that he was more than nothing, that he could have influence, that he could earn respect, and she acted on this, using him by convincing him that he could have those things by serving her and being her Knight:

(Seifer with his gunblade on the president steps to the other room.
Quistis follows him. Squall's group also follows them as well. In the
next room...)

Seifer: !?

???: ...Poor, poor boy...

Seifer: Stay away from me!

Edea: Such a confused little boy. Are you going to step forward?
Retreat? You have to decide.

Seifer: Stay back!

(The sorceress casts something to push back Quistis.)

Edea: The boy in you is telling you to come. The adult in you is
telling you to back off. You can't make up your mind. You don't know
the right answer. You want help, don't you? You want to be saved from
this predicament.

Seifer: Shut up!

Edea: Don't be ashamed to ask for help. Besides, you're only a little
boy.

Seifer: I'm not... Stop calling me a boy.

Edea: You don't want to be a boy anymore?

Seifer: I am not a BOY!

(Seifer lets go of President Deling. The president ran.)

Edea: Come with me to a place of no return. Bid farewell to your
childhood.

For Seifer, his childhood represented weakness and -- most of all -- uselessness. It was these feelings of being useless that he sought to run from.

Seifer was so determined to prove that he could be of value to someone, he perhaps needed it to even live with himself. He wanted it so badly that he was willing to turn his back on his friends and home, and betray what he knew was right, so long as he could feel like he was worth something to someone. One may ask, "Being that his friends, Fujin and Raijin cared for him, why then was he not content with that position of worth?" The answer is clear: He had become so convinced that he wasn't of value, that such subtleties as friendship alluded his sight, and all he could see was what he wasn't. He had to be doing something that everyone would see. Something on a scale so grand that no eyes would miss it, which his later words will strongly convey.

As time went on, he became more and more desperate to prove his worth, answering Ultimecia's wishes to raise the Lunatic Pandora from the ocean floor, knowing that great destruction would follow. But by this point, there was no going back for him. He could only move forward, becoming further and further self-destructive and desperate:

(On Lunatic Pandora.)

Seifer: I've always gotta be doing somethin' BIG! I don't wanna stop. I'm gonna keep running! I've come this far...
I'm gonna make it to the end, to the goal! There's no way I'm sharing it with you!

After his final defeat, he again finds himself feeling backed into a wall, and again he chooses the path that Ultimecia presents to him, answering to her will that Rinoa's body become one with Adel's:

Rinoa
"Seifer! Stop it!"
"Haven't you done enough!?"
"I know you're not like that!"

Seifer
"Can't go back now! I can't go anywhere!"
"The sorceresses as one! That is Ultimecia's WISH!"

Seifer's life is that of a child who never felt that he was needed, and allowed feelings of uselessness to eat away at him until he could no longer live with himself unless he proved his value, to others, yes, but most of all to himself. The game's ending, however, shows us both a fitting ending for Seifer, and, perhaps, an appropriate penance: A humble existance in the company of his friends who stood by him no matter what. However it may have happened, Seifer has grown up. When he looks up at Balamb Garden as it flies overhead, he smiles. He's become a man.

In all honesty, I don't believe that he ever hated Squall. I think he simply hated what Squall represented: Everything that Seifer wasn't and could not be. Squall had the respect of other students, despite how aloof he had been and how little he would have likely cared one way or the other, while Seifer -- who desired that respect -- did not. If he hated anyone, it was himself.


By the way, I wonder if Seifer's name has any connection to a term that it is a homohpone of: "Cipher," a term meaning "One who has no influence or value." It would certainly fit his character well. Despite that, though, "Seifer" is a German name, and likely intentionally so, as the Teutonic Knights wore crosses on their mantles, oftentimes the crosses being positioned over their upper arms when the mantles were pulled around them, the same as his jacket has crosses on his upper arms.

[Angel Of Apocolypse]

Seifer wasn't a bad guy, though. He is just misunderstood! He was trying to show Squall up and he was being manipulated and brain-washed. But I'm gonig to say, that I do feel sorry for him...cause I like him.

[Squall of SeeD]

Seifer wasn't a bad guy, though. He is just misunderstood! He was trying to show Squall up and he was being manipulated and brain-washed. But I'm gonig to say, that I do feel sorry for him...cause I like him.

He was being manipulated, sure, but not brainwashed. The game tells us he was doing what he did of his own free will:

(The information given when using Scan on him during the fight with him in Deling City.)

Seifer
After leaving the Garden, he decided to become a Sorceress' Knight under Edea. Uses fire magic in conjunction with sword attacks.

(Bolded for emphasis.)

Seifer chose to do what he did. Ultimecia (in Edea's body) causing Rinoa to stand behind her against her will as she made her speech to the citizens of Deling City would fit the concept of being controlled, and her less-than-cognizant status during that time would suggest Seifer wasn't in the same condition even without considering what Scan says concerning him.

[Chris]

I just watched the ending again and I can truly state that I didn't feel pity for him at all, at all.

Everybody has to take responsibility and suffer from the consequences
of their actions.

Pity is for the misunderstood.

[Angel Of Apocolypse]

! You used bold! OK, Seifer is my fav and that's why I stick up for him. And you don't need to use "almighty" bold! Used for very, very special reasons only.

Sorry, I finally found the Pixy Stiks I've been after and I've had five so far...I'm high...

[Lass T. End]

Why should I feel sorry for him? He had a happy ending, an' kept his buddies!